How I'd change Hockey by Steve Carlson 8-23-08

Steve Carlson interview, Part 3. I’ve saved what I felt was the best for last. That’s what you’re supposed to do, right? Save desert for last, save your best wine for a special occasion. I thoroughly enjoyed my time speaking with him, but when we started talking about his feelings about the sport in the US and the NHL today, I realized what so many people don’t know: he’s nothing like his on screen persona.

Because I know he spends so much time promoting the game and doing appearances in Canada, I started out asking him as an American, how he felt about the sentiment that hockey doesn‘t belong in some of our non-traditional US and International markets. At first he laughed, then continued.
“The way I look at it is you have so many teams in the US and only a select few in Canada. It’s not our fault. It’s up to the Canadian Government to give these tax breaks. The Government looks its independent owned company it should be self sufficient. Then don’t complain when Tampa or Florida has a team or San Jose or Anaheim. WE give them the breaks. Even at the College route. They do not give scholarships to the Canadian colleges, that’s why many of the Canadian kids come to the US because it’s a free education. And I keep complaining to the people there, why don’t you? Then I reverse my thinking because what they’re doing is giving us all their best college players to filling our arenas. I like the way you’re doing things up there. It’s not only the pro ranks it’s the college ranks. We’re supporting our arenas and giving them a free education.”

Mr. Carlson runs summer hockey schools for both boys and girls from 5 - 14 years old. This summer his school made its way to Wisconsin. The camps are three day, skating only, and no pucks instruction for the unbelievable bargain price of $75 per student. (Oh these non-NY prices make me stutter.) I asked him if he has seen more of an interest in hockey, especially in young girls.

“I have a lot of girls that come to my camps. I believe that if you can’t skate you can’t play the game. Good example of a great skater that makes a career playing in the NHL is Chris Draper of the Detroit Red Wings. He has limited hand skills but he is a key element to the Red Wings on the Penalty kill, the 3rd line, and the checking line. You need to be able to skate. And that’s what I really enforce is skating ability. Because you can’t shoot the puck if you can’t skate. You can’t check someone if you can’t skate it’s all balance. With the girls coming in, involved in US colleges, they’re giving scholarships away and it’s getting this huge response. Then here come the Canadian girls, and the Swedes and the Russians. It’s a great opportunity to be able to get an education AND play the game that you LOVE.”

And there was the key word that all true hockey fans understand. “Love.” The LOVE of the game-- the passion for the sport. Mr. Carlson seemed just a little disappointed as he continued.

“There is a difference in kids today from when I was younger and I played the game -- and I still feel this way. If I ask my high school kids that I coach, ‘Do you LIKE playing hockey?’ And they say “Yeah. I LIKE playing.” I tell them, that’s the difference between your thinking and my thinking. I LOVE playing. They just LIKE playing. And I see the difference from the kids in the 70s and 80s to those of the 90s and 2000s, where they “like” playing it. So the problem I have with a lot of the NHL players is they believe that the NHL owes them a career. Instead of our thinking, we didn’t make the million dollar contracts. WE didn’t have that. WE believed that it was a privilege to play because not everyone gets to play this game. It’s a privilege to play; it’s a privilege to be selected and the attitude has changed a lot.”

I have heard this sentiment from other “old time hockey” guys. But considering that even with the expanded number of teams, this is an industry with only a little more than 700 NHL jobs. It IS a privilege to play. And it would be good if everyone (players and fans) remembered that.

“There are select players that you can weed out, but the average (high school) player is playing because his mother and father just want them to play. I also believe there is a problem with the youth programs where they play year round. They have to get away from that because hockey is a very physical contact sport. When we were playing, when hockey season ended, then there was baseball season. They don’t give their muscles a chance to rest. I believe there is a problem where these kids are getting seriously injured at a younger age because their muscles and their growth plates are screwed up from playing every day the whole year. They HAVE to give that body a rest. The players now-a-days train year round. We used to use training camp to GET into shape. Now they come to camp in shape or you’re in trouble. There’s all this physical fitness stuff which is great, but you HAVE to give your body a rest.”

Here’s where his thinking may not be the norm. I’ve read all the articles on the net about off-season training. Some players never stop. Has it given them an edge to NOT end up on the injured list? Not that I’ve seen. Maybe Mr. Carlson is right about giving the body a rest from this highly physical game. Maybe the year round training is too much for any one…. With the exception of freak-of-nature Chris Chelios.

In the last 15 - 20 years of charity work the Hanson Brothers have done, they have raised almost 13 million dollars. Not bad for 3 goons from the movies, eh? I asked him what his favorite charity was.

“We do them all. Everything has to do with kids though. We do a lot with Make a Wish, Diabetes; it’s all about kids, because that’s the future. I love kids. I love working them. When I was coaching in Memphis, I made sure my players went to St. Jude’s once a week at least. But I took that one more step because also at St. Jude’s they have the Ronald McDonald house where parents spend months and months, so what I would do is once a week also is have our van go and pick up the parents and take them to a game and give them 2 ½ hours of everything they want. Then after the game, we would take them back to Ronald McDonald house. Because granted, we all feel sorry for the kids. It’s unfortunate that they are going through this pain. But the parents are going through pain also. They feel it just as much as the kids. I wanted to give back to them.”

Mr. Carlson has always been very outspoken about the ‘new’ NHL, so I asked him what the one thing he would change about the NHL is. For some reason, I knew what the first words out of his mouth would be. I was right.

“The Commissioner.”

As Mr. Bettman’s personal cheer leader, I couldn’t help but say it, “Damn. I knew you were going to say that.” He chuckled a little and moved on.

“I’ve got many if you want. I’m not going to stick with one anyway. How about this one, I would like to change the rule on how many Europeans or foreigners you can have on your team.”

I had seen that he mentioned that to a reporter previously. I thought it was a very interesting point though perhaps not PC.

“They do that to the Americans and Canadians when they go over to Europe to play. When we grow up in the US or Canada, we dream of holding the (Stanley) Cup up. When the Swedes, Finns, Russians or Czechs grow up, they dream of holding the World Cup trophy up. I have a problem in the last five or six years one of the top teams in the NHL talent wise, man for man, talent wise has been Ottawa. Why do they get beat out the first round all the time? They have so many of these players that when they get beat out of the playoffs, they go back and play in the World Cup tournament. They go and play for their country. I believe if you limit 3 Europeans per team to give the Americans and Canadians more opportunity to play because we have the passion and I believe 95% of the North Americans would go through a wall to win that cup.”

“I would like to see Brian Burke as the Commissioner of the National Hockey League. He understands the game. I believe they should let the players decide their instigating fighting should not be punishable. I believe that once a player takes a run at your super star player, that here comes in my day, the Dave Semankos, the Gord Lanes, the Clark Gillies come out there and punish the boy that touched your Brian Trottier or Mike Bossy. Let them score. Trust me, when you see someone like a Dave Semanko (or a laundry list of other names he mentioned that I had no clue who they were) come at you, you’re going to think twice before you do it.”

Since he is coaching kids, I asked him what he felt about making visors mandatory. I was surprised at the answer.

“I have to say that in the junior ranks and the college ranks I don’t believe in the full face shield because there is no respect there. I watch college hockey and it’s like one high stick after another because there is no worries of cutting someone or damaging someone. Go with the half shield, that’s fine. If you don’t want to wear it, sign the paper that says the league is not responsible for any injury.”

He mentioned Brian Berard’s freak accident injury. It happens.

“Keep your stick down. Keep your stick down. Control your stick. When we played and we cut someone… Here they come! And oh boy! Sorry! Not good enough. Gordie Howe. Mr. Elbow, Mr. Stick. I played with Gordie Howe for a year and a half and he was a master at it. You knew you go in the corner, you tick him off, and you’re coming out bleeding. That’s’ just the way the game was. Getting cut is not an injury. You go get sewn up and come right back.”

I told him one of my favorite hockey memories was watching Captain Keith Primeau take stitches to the face in a playoff game, and not even miss a shift. I always felt that was a perfect example of Hockey being the last great Gladiator sport.

And lastly, Carlson would change, “Take diving out of the game. It’s gotten so ridiculous, it’s not even funny. If you hit a guy and him goes down like someone shot him. No. He should get an unsportsmanlike conduct for that. If he can get up and skate around… you do a dive and then you’re on the power play? No. Two minute, unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.”

He still plays and still skates, very well.

“Sometimes when I play, my mind says ‘Oh this is great, but my body says you dumb fool you can’t do it anymore. No brain no pain.”

I think your brain is just fine Mr. Carlson. You’ve still got it.

Slap Shot - The Cult Classic - Spawns Anew 8-21

2nd in the 3 part series of my discussion with Steve Carlson. Next up will be his feelings on the game and how he would change the NHL today. ( You can guess which was #1 that made me cringe.)
Also coming up an indepth look at CJ Papa, the hardest working man in Sports broadcasting. Happy Friday people!

It was over 30 years ago when Slap Shot was first released to mixed reviews. The language, the raw imagery and the sports violence made many viewers wince. But those who had any knowledge of what hockey was really like in those days in the minor leagues knew it wasn’t far off the mark. Besides, it had Paul Newman.

Based on information from the scriptwriter’s brother and his playing days struggling in the minors, this “little film” starring a big actor has endured the test of time. The clothes may be hard to look at, but the comedy endures, and so do the loveable goons called The Hanson Brothers.

When they couldn’t find actors who could skate well enough to make the film work, the native Minnesota Carlson Brothers were given the opportunity to play the roles. As fate would have it, Jeff Carlson was called up to the Detroit Red Wings and couldn’t take the role leaving Steve and Jack a man short for their line. So Dave Hanson, who was supposed to play the role of Killer Carlson, was adopted as the third brother and someone else was brought in to play his original role.

It was fate at its finest and pretty cool for a couple of struggling hockey playing kids. They didn’t really have to act, this was their act. They are just naturally funny. But I had to ask my burning question. If there is only one Hanson, and two Carlsons, how come you’re not the Carlson Brothers?

“Well, you’re not supposed to use your real name for a movie.” Steve Carlson told me over the phone. He then explained Dave Hanson’s switch from one role to another, but I was still a little confused. I guess, like most other things, Hanson Brothers just works better.

But the Carlson boys were no joke hockey players. They were serious. When I asked him what on his impressive list of accomplishments he is most proud of his answer was “Being an American and making it to the NHL in the 70s at the time the Canadians dominated the WHA and the NHL.”

Misconception number one: The Hanson Brothers are not Canadian. They are American born and raised.

The three brothers from Minnesota, Jeff, Jack and Steve Carlson actually made it. They went the hard route playing high school and Jrs in Minneapolis. Steve signed a contract with the Minnesota Fighting Saint’s right out of high school. Making it to the NHL or WHA was very satisfying. And at 19 years old, Steve just wanted to be a Hockey Player. But the acting may be what he’s best known for.

The movie studio actually even offered the trio a 7 year contract, but they turned it down because for the first 3 years they could have had them film at any time -- including hockey season. They couldn’t agree to that. “I could be in Malibu right now! But I was only 20, my life was to play hockey. I wasn’t an actor.”

Can you imagine the merchandising that would have come out of that should they have accepted the 7 year deal? They may have been more popular than the Monkees! At least they did their own stunts.

Well, Carlson has now been in 3 films in 31 years so he says he’s a veteran of the movie business.
Slap Shot II, while no where near the classic as the original, was actually the impetus for the Hanson Brothers being honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002. There was a huge exhibit and a gala party celebrated what the movie and these bespectacled lunk-heads brought to hockey. Ironically, the 3 AMERICAN born hockey icon’s don’t currently have any sort of exhibit or honor in the US Hockey Hall of fame which is basically 3 miles from Mr. Carlson’s home town.
Seriously, if the Toronto Hall of Fame can honor someone, shouldn’t the US Hockey Hall of Fame do the same? Is here a more recognizable trio in this sport than the Hanson Brothers? Um. Negative. This doesn’t make sense to me. The Hanson Brothers are some of the best Ambassadors for Hockey, touring constantly. “When you have three Americans, that can’t be honored in the US Hockey Hall of fame, I think it’s a shame.” I tend to agree.

Maybe they just didn’t like Slap Shot II? So let’s hope the next installment, Slap Shot III: The Junior League makes them sit up and take notice. The story line is a little more family oriented than its Parent’s, and it’s currently battling between a PG or PG-13 rating. Since it is a straight to DVD production, it will be widely available so you can relax at home with a nice bowl of popcorn and a few beers to watch it.

This installment follows the Hanson Brothers of today as they have lost their money through bad investments and other Hockey related pitfalls (ahem, ahem) so they have changed their ways and practice Zenovation (don’t ask me, I don’t know) and are asked to save (here it comes) an orphanage.

Leslie Nielsen (who made me crack up in all his other silly movies) stars as the mayor of Charlestown. Hockey legend Mark Messier (grrrr... Ex-Ranger that made Jason Blake turn purple by choking him.) has a cameo appearance, (I'll be sure to be in the kitchen for that) and so does former NHL star Doug Gilmour. The orphanage is named Newman House, an apparent tribute to ailing “Slap Shot” star Paul Newman, who played Reggie Dunlop in the original.

The brothers become the orphans' sponsors to try to keep their orphanage from being replaced by condos. They try to teach the kids how to win the right way, but of course, since it is the Hanson Brothers, at one point… all Hell breaks loose. Sounds like a little bit “Blues Brothers,” a little “Mighty Ducks.” Personally, I don’t care. It’s a hockey movie that I can watch in my living room and have a good time with. I’m looking forward to it.

So look for the release some time in November at a retail store near you. And check their website http://www.stevecarlsonhockey.com/ for additional updates.

Follow Up: Scott Gordon on Steve Carlson -8/20

So at tonight's open house, "Grilling Gordon" I asked coach Gordon what he remembered of his time with Steve Carlson as his coach. (I figured it was only fair.... I did preface the question by letting him know that Mr. Carlson had nothing but good things to say about HIM. You know... just in case he didn't read this yet.)

A big smile came to his face. Since I was asking the question with a microphone spewing feedback in my face, I didn't takes notes. But the gist of his response was that he was very happy for the opportunity to continue to play. Since he was sent down to the ECHL, he thought his playing days were over. But it was actually a year and a month from that time that he played his first NHL game and then went on to the Olympics.

I asked if he had any Slap Shot style memories of his time there. "The thing I remember most about Steve Carlson was when I'd ask him 'How far is Knoxville from Johnstown?', he'd always answer "It's only this far.'"(holding his fingers about an inch apart.)

You could see he had good memories of his time there and of Carlson. Although... I'm sure I'll get much better stories when he's not in front of a crowd with a microphone in his hand.

Deflecting Slap Shots from Hanson Brother Steve Carlson 8-19-08

Steve Carlson’s resume is impressive: Hockey player, actor, humorist, coach, broadcaster, philanthropist, public speaker and entrepreneur. The only thing missing was ‘author,’ but he’s not ready for that. Besides he’s been exceptionally busy coaching a high school team in Kenosha WI, conducting hockey camps, making charity appearances and taking care of things at SteveCarlsonHockey.com and hansonbrothers.net. The only place you can get genuine autographed Hanson Brothers items, as well as have a few good laughs.

So what did Mr. Carlson had to say about his memories of the NY Islanders and our new Head Coach, Scott Gordon? A few things.

Now to prove that Steve Carlson was a no-joke hockey player, let’s look back a little. His playing career spanned from 1973 - 1987. His “cup of coffee” with the NHL came in the 1979-80 season with the LA Kings where he played 52 games and scored 9 goals. That season, he almost broke an NHL record during a playoff game against the NY Islanders with Billy Smith in Goal.

“I was one second short from breaking an NHL record for short handed goals. We had two short handed goals already and I was a penalty killer, and I came across the blue line and I took a shot and I scored but the penalty expired ONE second before. I kinda confused Billy Smith on that shot. I had a patented Louisiana shot; I call it the Blue Bayou shot. That was the year that the Islanders won the Cup. WE had them on the ropes. But that was the year that Ken Morrow came in from the Olympics. What a great year he had that won the Olympics and then won the Stanley Cup. Butch Goring had something to prove against the LA Kings and he completely dominated. He played extremely well against us. My job on the team was to shut down the Trottier, Bossy, Gillies line, which we did a pretty good job doing it. But what happened was that the Islanders had a better second, third and fourth line that pretty much shut down the Marcel Dionne, Taylor, Simmer line. And with Tonelli and Nystrom and Bobby Bourne, they had an all around great team.”

You could tell he was smiling when he mentioned how great it was that Bossy and Trottier are still around the team. It does really mean so much to the younger players to have that connection to the greats of the game.

So that was his memory of the past, I asked him about his memory of our immediate future: new head coach Scott Gordon. The Massachusetts native was signed as a free agent by the Nordiques in October of 1986 at 23. He was named to the Hockey East All-Star First Team during the 1985-86. season and to the East Coast Hockey League All-Star First Team during the 1988-89 season.

“Okay, I was assistant coach in Baltimore in the American league and he was under contract with the Quebec Nordiques and we unfortunately had all these quality guys, veterans that played for us. Then I became head coach in Johnstown (yep… the Johnstown Chiefs of the ECHL) and we were affiliated with Quebec and was asked if I wanted Scotty Gordon and I took him in a second.

He is one of the hardest working players I had. When we were on the ice during practice, he was out there a half hour before anyone even stepped on the ice and I would shoot the puck around the boards and he would stop it and shoot it out of the zone for one half hour before and AFTER practice. He was a very hardworking player. I followed his career as a coach, when he was an assistant coach out in Providence. I could see him making his players work as hard as he works. He develops players well. He’s walking into a situation where, if the Islanders do what they plan to do with Garth Snow and the youth movement. That’s great! Stick to the plan then! Look at the character players. Everything is character. Character players that will do anything to win a hockey game. Those character players are key elements to a hockey team. Scotty is going to bring that out.”

There’s no doubt that injuries played a large part in where the Islanders ended up last season. It was bad enough losing our scoring power, but to lose Rick between the pipes made it all the worse. So one of the issues facing Scott Gordon will be how much to rest our All-Star goalie.

“ I would like to see DiPietro not play as much. Because even though Marty Brodeur plays 70 games a year, he only faces 20 shots a game. When Rick plays 60 -75 games, he’s facing three times as many shots as Marty does. He’s getting over worked. "

My attempt at humor was just saying. “Haven’t you heard? He’s Bionic now.” (Well, he should be!)

“Well, goaltenders are a little different. They’re a different breed. They have to do the splits and unorthodox moves with their legs. If they can keep the shots down to 30 shots a game and play solid, tight defensive hockey, they’ll be okay. You have to play a 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 game constantly and you have to understand the system that Scotty wants to bring in.”

Having coached youngsters for years, he brought up a very interesting point about the game itself.

“… hockey is a game of mistakes. What you do out there immediately after a mistake is crucial. If you play the game and you make a mistake and you hang your head and pout, you’re in trouble. Get back in the play and try to get the puck back and work your ass off.”

“I believe with Scotty coaching here, they are going to try to outwork EVERY team. They‘re going to have to be in the best shape. I believe he’s going to do that. He understands the young players systems. They‘re going to make mistakes. You just got to keep teaching them, and teaching them. And it‘s very frustrating on a coach when a player keeps making the same mistakes. You have to be patient, because eventually the light‘s going to go off above his head and say OH! That‘s what I need to do. And you become a player than. See it‘s very easy to lose hockey games. It‘s very hard to WIN. What they have to instill in these young players is how to win. They have to teach these young guys pride.”

Hear that boys. Rest up while you still can. Sounds like Gordon isn’t going to accept anything less than he expects from himself, and that would be 100%.

We started to joke about having two ex-goalies running the show.

“Two goaltenders! Oh my goodness! I was a center man when I played. Let’s look at this now. As a forward, I get out of the way on purpose so that an 80 - 90 mph puck does NOT hit me. Come on. Their mentality? ‘I volunteer to step in front of it.’ They’re not sane people. They’re a whole different breed out there. But you have to also look at it that they understand the system because they’re on the ice the whole time. They see how plays develop and they see who they can trust and who they can’t on the ice. So I look at Goaltenders as possibly good, and when I look at them together; okay. We might have one full brain out there on the Island.”

There's that trademark sarcasm. He was just kidding Garth. Just kidding!

An Hour with a Hanson Brother - 8-19-08

Monday I had the pleasure of spending an hour on the phone with Steve Carlson from Slap Shot fame. We talked about everything from his start in high school hockey to his new film Slapt Shot III: Junior League being released in November.

But of course, because I don't want to leave any fascinating detail out, it's taking me a while to put together.

So look for the first of THREE parts no later than tomorrow. First up will be Steve Carlson's memory of playing against the Islanders in 1980 and his feelings about Islanders new Head Coach Scott Gordon. Because the world is the size of a walnut, Gordon actually was coached by Carlson during his stay with the Johnstown Chiefs.

In the meantime, check out www.stevecarlsonhockey.com and www.hansonbrothers.net for some great official merchandise as well as some really good laughs. (Check the fan Q&A section for their trademark humor.)

It's great stuff! You'll love it!